The chairman of the Investigative Commission for the investigation of Golden passports cases, Myron Nicolatos, said on Tuesday, April 20 that despite the numerous violations in the granting of citizenship, Cyprus will not massively revoke passports from foreign investors and their relatives.
He noted that the Commission, which he heads, is not a judicial body that makes the final decisions on the cases considered.
The chairman of the Investigative Commission also added that their members will present their findings and make recommendations only on individual cases of flagrant violations in order to give a go to the official procedure for initiating criminal cases on deprivation of citizenship through the courts.
At the same time, Nicolatos stressed that responsibility for the naturalization of relatives of foreign investors lies entirely with the government of Cyprus, which issued passports at its discretion, despite the fact that this was not enshrined at the legislative level.
Nicolatos confirmed that the interim report found that 51.8% of the 6,770 citizenships surveyed were granted illegally, and the remaining 48.2% of cases had significant non-compliance with the program criteria.
Finally, in some cases there has been potential fraud on the part of the applicants, as well as the program providers and law firms. Therefore, the report has recommendations for the revocation of a certain number of citizenships by investment.
In conclusion, the chairman of the Investigative Commission said that in the near future the interrogation of the former Chairman of the Parliament of Cyprus Demetris Sillouris, MP from the Akel party Christakis Giovanis and lawyer Andreas Pittadjis will take place.